


Please, Please me

by funkysquirrels



Category: The Creatures (Youtube RPF)
Genre: 1960s, Alternate Universe - 1960s, M/M, Period-Typical Racism, Slurs, Soviet Union
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-03-15 15:30:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3452336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/funkysquirrels/pseuds/funkysquirrels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>1963, Pennsylvania. Kevin and James are old friends, now in 12th grade and ready to graduate.  Both being queer, they had stuck together through bullying and teasing from their peers. The pair meet a new boy at the bus stop on their first day of school, a Russian Bostonian named Aleks. Kevin falls in love with Aleks as they bond over music, and James provides support as he gets ready for his state-wide wrestling championship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A fan-fic from two years ago. This was written by a friend and myself through RP and then edited to seem readable.  
> I do not remember much about how well it's edited, but looking back, I can tell it's not the most easiest thing to digest reading-wise.

1963

East coast

Rubbing the sleepiness from his eyes as he walked out the front door, book bag slung over his shoulder, Aleks started down the sidewalk. It was the first week of school, 12th grade, and it was raining. The boy held an arm above his head to protect his dark, messy bed-head from the cold splashes of water. Aleks usually took the time to brush out his hair in the morning, but he had gotten little sleep and had woken up too late to put much effort into his appearance. Now he stood at the corner next to the stop sign and waited for his bus to arrive.

Meanwhile, after finishing his morning routine of a mile run, 50 sit ups, 50 push ups, and 20 pull ups, James finally washed up, ate, and prepared for school. Almost late, he ran to the bus stop in time to meet Aleks and another boy at 6:44 in the morning. Kevin, who was already at the bus stop immersed in humming to his new song he was trying to learn on the guitar, didn't greet the young boy. But when he saw James running to the bus stop, he looked up from his shoes and gave a grin. "Hey! It's nice to see you again, James. Going to join the wrestling team again?" He asked friendly.

"Of fucking course." James replied, a bit dumbfounded he would even suggest that he wouldn't.

"Good. Do you know your classes yet?" Kevin asked again with an easy smile. "I have music class with Mrs. I'm-too-good-for-this-job again." He stated as he lifted his guitar case with one hand.

Aleks glanced over at Kevin at the mention of music class and noticed his guitar case. He didn't enjoy conversation early in the morning, but he figured that he might as well ask, once the boy with the guitar finished speaking to the jock. "You play guitar? I, uh, think I might be joining your class today."

Kevin and James took notice of the other boy. Both noticed how cute he was, both knew each other were gay from a past party during the summer, both knew each others’ interests.

"Oh. Well that's interesting. When's your period? Mine's second. I have Math first, what a bummer." Kevin commented in varying pitches of minimal degree and then sighed.

  
Haha, James thought, you're just trying to act all weak. We both know you love math because the teacher is hot.

"Boo, hoo. It's not that bad. Ehrm, what's your name new guy?" James asked.

"I think I have music second period, too. But my first period is English," Aleks' voice petered out a bit, and he cleared his throat. Speaking louder and clearer this time, he responded to James. "I'm Aleks."

"Oh, hey Alex," James said. "It seems you and I both have Mr. O'Doherty in the morning." He said smoothly. "Are you new to this school?"

Obviously a bit envious of James's ease of picking up boys, Kevin butted in, "It's obvious he's new. If he was an old timer, I would have known who he was." Kevin knew a majority of the guys at school since he scanned the new freshmen every year to see if any hotties had arrived.

"Uh, yeah. My mom and I just moved here from Boston," Aleks replied simply looking down at his shoes and kicking at a few stray pebbles on the wet cement. He wore a new pair of black Cuban-heeled boots. Even if my hair is a mess, my feet are looking sharp, thought Aleks absentmindedly.

Kevin smiled in triumph of his minor success before the bus came. They got on and sat near each other in the back. The bus seats were hot from the sunlight cooking it and it stuck to James’s bare skin on his legs.

"You know, you should join a sport," Commented James from behind Aleks as he unstuck himself. "You have the build of a runner or basketball player, Alex." He said into his ear.

Distressed by the amount of competition James was flaunting, Kevin butted in and looked directly at James whispering, "Hey man, I call dibs. I saw you with Johnny boy at that party, you already have someone!"  
James smirked and whispered back lewdly like the high school boy he was, "But damn! This boy is so fucking cute. I bet he's a virgin and everything."

  
"He may be straight." Kevin warned.

  
   Becoming a bit self conscious when the two boys began whispering to each other, Aleks reached a hand up to his hair and ran his fingers through the loose knots trying to smooth them down. "I was on the track team for two years but I didn't really dig it."

  
"Aw. Thats okay though because you’re in PA now. It's really different here." James explained with persistence in a semi-sincere voice.

Laughing it off, Kevin said defending the new boy, "Hey man, the dude said he didn’t dig it. No need to force him in anything."

Sitting in solemn silence the rest of the ride, James said sorry and sulked as he shoved his hands underneath his legs to create a barrier between the seat. Once they got at the school, James and Kevin said goodbye to each other. James offered to guide aleks to English.  
"

Kevin, the fag with the guitar, will be in your second period class. I’m in your third and second and otherwise I’m not sure, you’re on your own. We all seem to have dinner together fifth. During dinner, we can compare the rest." James explained on their way to the red building on the right side of the campus. The school was quite big for a public school because the government sent a majority of its taxes to its education system for their town. The school was old but had a bit more modern side to it, like flags reading United States of America hanging in halls next to the entrances of all the school’s corridors. NASA posters were advertising their space race with the Soviets. More STEM classes were added and it was the highest ranking school for classes with a nice set of clubs.

Aleks looked around the building, surprised by its relatively large size. He had been expecting a downgrade, moving from Boston to Pennsylvania, but this school seemed almost bigger than his previous one. Maybe he just needed to get used to it. This kid who was walking him around, Aleks wasn't sure what his name was yet, made him a bit uncomfortable. Especially what he said about the other boy being a 'fag with a guitar.' Aleks himself was a fag with a bass guitar, and the fag part wasn't a joke. He looked at James, turning his head towards him just slightly while walking along. "Alright... so, we have English together, right?"

"Yeah and the English teacher is pretty cool," James told him as they climbed the stairs. After entering a huge windowed classroom, they sat down next to each other at a double desk and waited for the teacher to arrive and for class to start.

"So, do you do anything?" James asked.

The Russian chuckled a bit awkwardly as he sat down next to James. "I play bass. That's about it," He always had a hard time answering that question. "I'm, uh, guessing that you're into sports... wrestling, right?"

Impressed the boy remembered, James puffed out his chest a bit. Even though he was just wearing a plain white shirt on his chest, he felt like he was top class. "Yeah. Well you and Kevin will have a gay time together I bet. Oh, looks like class is starting." He then said after the bell rang.

***

Mr. O'Doherty, a rather small man with glasses and a head of messy dirty-blond curls stepped into the classroom, closing the door behind him. He walked over to his desk and picked up a clipboard, adjusting his spectacles and glancing it over. He was told to expect a new student today and the new name at the bottom of his attendance list confirmed it. Looking up at the class, he waved a hand in attempt to quiet down the chattering students.

  
Mr. O'Doherty spoke. "Alright, enough of that. Class is starting... and we have a new student," The man looked down at his list again, figuring out how to pronounce the new student's unusually European name. "Aleksandr Kuznetsov?" He pronounced the name slowly, and then looked around for the boy in the crowd of teenage heads.

  
All of the students turned and stared back at the boy with the Russian name, and Aleks raised his hand hesitantly. "Call me Aleks."

  
Looking at Aleks now, James felt a little unsure. "Aleksandr?" He asked hesitantly, "Isn’t that Russian?"

  
Shifting in his seat uncomfortably under the eyes of the class, Aleks sighed. This was the reaction his name usually evoked. He glanced at James, looking a bit annoyed, and whispered, "Yeah."

  
Mr. O'Doherty nodded at Aleks, making a mental note to call him that rather than Aleksandr. He could tell that the apparently Russian boy was uncomfortable with people's reaction to his heritage, and as a teacher he would treat him respectfully. Though because he didn't seem to have an accent, Seamus was curious about his life story. "Oh, sorry Aleks. Well, welcome to the class," Mr. O'Doherty said as he sat down at his desk. The students were still paying more attention to the new boy than to the teacher, much to Aleks' chagrin. Mr. O’Doherty looked back down at his attendance list and cleared his throat. "Roll call."

  
James felt apprehensive as to what to do at the moment. Should he say he didn't care that Aleks was Russian, or should he joke and say he couldn't be friends with a spy? Anxiously, he took out his English notebook for the class, and a pencil, and a pen.

The majority of the class pried their eyes off of Aleks and looked to the front of the class as Mr. O'Doherty did roll call. Aleks exhaled quietly, relieved though still a bit irritated, especially by James' reaction. This kid had tried to convince him to join a sports team five seconds after meeting him, he wouldn't shut up the whole walk from the bus to the classroom, and as soon as it was implied that he's Russian he gets all quiet and bashful? Aleks took out his notebook and pencil as well, glancing at James again. He thought that it was odd that the first thing James had done was tell him to join the sports team… was he that eager to see him sweaty and shirtless? Aleks smirked, just slightly. Maybe he's gay. No, Aleks shot that thought down. You're probably the only queer in the school.

James said his ‘here’ when Mr. O'Doherty called for James Wilson. During class he had one girl send a note his way just like every first day of school, day before a holiday, or the last day of school. It was really getting annoying now since it was his last year, but he bared with it and wrote a cute, "I'm sorry! You're beautiful, but I'm seeing someone else!" card with a smiley face near the word ‘beautiful’ and a sad face at the end. After sending it back towards the girl it came from, he wrote on his paper "I don't give a fuck if you're Russian." Meaning to send it to Aleks, he ripped it out, but then hesitated. What if Aleks didn't really care what James thought? I mean, he was pushy.

In Kevin's Math class, his little ‘James is having an emotional break down’ sensor went off.


	2. Music Class

Although he was doing a decent job of paying attention to Mr. O'Doherty's presentation, Aleks started drifting off at a few points. He managed to get all of the necessary notes down while half-asleep, with just his handwriting becoming a bit messier. In one of his more awake moments, Aleks noticed James exchanging notes with the girl. His heart sunk. Even though he didn't particularly like James, he'd rather be in the same boat with an asshole jock than be completely alone. But at this point in his life he was used to that.

Holding his breath, James made a big ugly heart on the note. He then folded it so the heart only showed, put down "Alexandra" in case they were caught, and flicked it over to Aleks' desk. Grinning afterwards, he put his face into his notes and thought better now than never. When Aleks saw the note skip over to his desk, his eyes--which were struggling to stay awake--opened wide. He looked over to James, had he flicked it? Well, that's where it had come from. Aleks raised an eyebrow at the big lop-sided heart on the front. After he opened the note beneath the desk in his lap, brow still quirked, he looked back over to James.

"Uh... thanks," He whispered awkwardly. The heart had caught him off guard, but the note's actual contents didn't match up with it. Was it a joke? James gave him a shy smile with a bit of tooth and then looked back up at the board. Class was over in five minutes. Hopefully not too many questions would be asked about the letter.

Finishing his presentation the minute before class ended, Mr. O'Doherty looked around at his students. About a quarter of them had been falling asleep. Seamus sighed heavily. "Any questions? No?" No reply. “On Monday we'll be in the library so you can pick out your independent reading books. You'll have to take a test on the book you’ll choose, so keep that in mind." The clock struck the next hour. "Class is dismissed."

James got up and collected his materials for his next period and then looked over at Aleks.

"Go down to the door we entered this morning, walk across the campus to the middle building and go up three flights. The Jazz room is room 399, all the way down the hallway in a huge room. Do you think you can get there without trouble? I know a friend who can help if you want me to flag her down." He said giving Aleks directions how to get to the Jazz room.

"I think I can manage it. Room 399," Aleks restated as they walked out of the classroom together. The wrestler then went the other way to Spanish, very relieved that Aleks hadn’t questioned him about the note. It made him want to kiss the boy, just a little. Maybe during lunch.

***

Aleks followed James's directions, thinking about the note (which was now in the back pocket of his drainpipe jeans) on his way there. He wouldn't have been so damn confused by it if it weren't for the heart. Girls did things like that with their friends, but he had never seen any boys do that. Especially not bearded wrestlers; and they had only known each other for two hours. Maybe he was gay? Now that Aleks thought about it, James had been looking at him that way when they first met. Aleks sighed as he reached the top of the stairs. Looking to his left down the corridor, he spotted the little nameplate reading '399' next to the door nearest him. The boy peered in through the window, and opened the door.

Kevin was tuning his guitar with the piano as Aleks entered. The music teacher, a small woman in her young thirties with short black hair, was instructing him with a stern voice. He looked up when Aleks came into the room.

"Hey! It's my new lover. Welcome to my casa! Mí casa es tú casa." He said jokingly.

The teacher, looking slightly annoyed at his change in action, looked at Aleks, "And what do you play, young man?" She asked in her stern voice.

Slinking into the classroom, Aleks made his way to Kevin's side. He looked over to the teacher. She looks pretty dull, Aleks thought. "Uh, electric bass. I couldn't bring mine with me because it's being repaired..." He glanced around the room, noticing a slightly beaten-up looking double bass sitting in the corner of the room. "I can play string bass too, though."

"You can use Emily's. She won't mind, though don’t play too strong. It's quite old. Tune it up and we'll start class." She said. Believing Kevin finally had the hang of tuning, she firmly patted Kevin's back for him to pick up the pace and went to write symbols on the board.

Kevin looked up at Aleks through his frayed hair, which was usually smoothed out, and said amused, "I didn't know you played, what a coincidence! How was English? Did James get his yearly first day love letter?'

Aleks dragged a stool over beside the piano then went back for the double bass. He looked around for the bow eventually finding it hanging from a hook on the wall. It was a German bow, which Aleks wasn't used to playing with, but it was the only bass bow there was. The rest were too small.

Aleks brought the instrument over to the stool next to Kevin, sat down, and began tuning it. "Is that his name? James? The guy who rides the bus with us?"

 "Yep. Best on the wrestling team. He and I have been friends for almost all of high school." Said Kevin as he pressed down the A, E, F keys. He strummed a C chord on his guitar and smiled when it sounded like angels humming. "He's my best lover, even if he comes off a bit awkward at first. He's a good guy."  

The teacher's name, Mrs. Betty, was written on the chalkboard. "Okay everyone, finish up tuning. We're going to go over the strings quickly for a review and then we're going to try our best to play a song."

   The Russian boy looked up from the slack C string he had been plucking while cranking the tuning peg to Kevin. "Your... best lover?”

  "Uh yeah, he and I are best friends.” He explained, embarrassed. “Do you need help?”

   The C string tightened and went back in tune as Aleks twisted the tuning peg further right, and he shook his head, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Ah, okay. No I'm good. And James did get a note from a girl, by the way, but I think he turned her down."

  Kevin nodded, not wanting to out his friend so he said simply, "He usually does. Hey, what's your third period class, the class after this one."

"Okay, everyone ready?" Mrs. Betty asked impatiently.

  "Not sure. Think it's French," Aleks replied quickly and turned his attention to Mrs. Betty.

She went over the scale giving individuals their own diagrams for their instruments.

"Now, let's do a quick roll call before going up the scale ourselves, then we can play something." She said hurriedly like she had an appointment with God.

After finishing with the J’s she said Aleks's name, "Aleksandr Kuznetsov? Oh, a Russian." She muttered. Kevin looked around disinterested. He was quite sick with the cold war propaganda personally.

Not this shit again, the Russian thought dreadfully. He raised his arm half-way up. "Call me Aleks, please." At least the other boy didn't have any special reaction. Aleks then realized that he didn't remember his name. He was 'the fag with a guitar,' as James had put it.

"Aleks then," the teacher corrected, "I hope you can play us Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky." She joked. A few students in the class edged themselves farther away from Aleks laughing, "Spy, Pinko, Commie, Russki." Kevin looked around the class with an annoyed glance then looked at Aleks directly, "Don't listen to those men man, they're all brainwashed."

"Kevin," the teacher said sharply, "Let's be kind in this room. Everyone else, politics do not enter this room."

Finishing her role call, she handed out individual pamphlets of Jazz Music for each individual player. "Everyone on page 89-90. We're going to play John Coltrane: Impressions."

Aleks could deal with the kids taunting him, but the teacher taking a dig at him was what really pissed him off. "Can't play you Tchaikovsky, but I can play you Roll Over Beethoven," Aleks muttered under his breath with a sarcastic grin, turning to the correct page in the pamphlet.

Kevin gave out a hearty light laugh from that. "You're really something Aleks.”

Smiling a bit, Aleks let out a quiet laugh. He wondered if Kevin was into rock music. Well, his hair looked pretty Elvis-esque, and he played guitar, so Aleks figured that he must. It'd give him something to talk about on the way home from school, or at lunch, among other things. The bassist then turned his attention back to the teacher, wanting to avoid conflict on the first day of school.

    As they finished going up and down the scale, they played a few staffs of impressions before the bell rang.

"Hey, it looks like we have next period together." Kevin calmly said as he looked at his schedule, "I have French, too. James takes Spanish like the good old sucker he is. Hey, do you like the Beatles and Presley?"

  Aleks gave Kevin a lopsided grin, lifting up his leg and bending his knee to display one of his shiny Cuban-heeled boots. 'Beatle boots,' as they were sometimes called. "Yeah. What gave it away?" The Russian laughed a bit. "I had, uh, kind of got the feeling that you might like Elvis. I like him too."

   Laughing along, Kevin opened up his white collared shirt a bit to reveal a shirt that said PELVIS IS LIKE ELVIS. "Many teachers don't like him," He said, well natured, "But I can get my way around wearing this shirt. Down this flight of stairs is French. They put the French classrooms in a different building--and I heard this as a rumor--because the French teachers and the Spanish teachers fought everyday in their foreign language."

They made their way downstairs. As they were walking down the hallway of 201-226, a muscular boy with a leather jacket bumped into Kevin making him fall and skid.

 "Oh, sorry, didn't see you there, faggot." He said rudely with a middle finger up before walking away with a laughing girl attached to his body. Kevin quickly snapped a “fuck you, too,” back at them. He knew that boy. During the summer of his eleventh year, James introduced him as Dillon. Some joke Dillon turned out to be. When they had slept together, all he cared about was fucking him and then ejaculating. Sex never felt more unappealing during that time. Snapping back to the present, he registered Aleks offering him a hand.

  "Man, you okay?"

  "Yeah of course. The first day is always this tough. Let's get into French, like, now." He said forcing a grin to Aleks as he got up.

  "You sure? 'Cause, like, you looked like you slid a little." Aleks tagged along behind the taller boy as he hurried down the hall to the French classroom.  Another 'fag' thrown at Kevin. That combined with what he had said about lovers before, was beginning to make Aleks suspicious of both of the boys. Of course, the bully could have just been taunting him, and what was said in Jazz could have been a coincidence. Aleks didn't want to get his hopes up, just in case.    Quickly, not to make him think about it longer, Kevin said sharply, "It was nothing, just another hallway incident. Oh look we're here, French class." He went inside and took a seat, leaving one open for Aleks. He was upset because it was all James's fault this happens every year in high school. If he had just shut his mouth during that party he wouldn't be in this situation. Also, Aleks would at least be spared secondhand embarrassment.

 Aleks realized that Kevin didn't want to say anything more about what had just happened, so he sat down next to him silently. He looked at Kevin from the corner of his eye and noticed that he looked upset. Wanting to ask if he was okay, but knowing that it probably wasn't the best idea, Aleks cleared his throat. "So what is the French teacher like?"

Pushing his thoughts out of his mind, he looked over at the Russian and thought for a moment, "I think he's like a stereotypical broadway boy. Very exaggerated with a good sense of humor, yet strict."  As he was saying this, the French teacher walked in and said bonjour with a wide sweep of his arms. They went over the review for basics like: hello, goodbye, this is my name, how are you. Around the end, they made name plates and got a packet.

  "Now it's due next week, fill it out to the best you can. It'll be what we will go over next month. The next few weeks we will review." He told the kids before class ended and the fourth period started.

For third period, James was in Math class and believed Aleks was going to be with him. He was quite disappointed and almost died through the tortuous class of Calculus.

        ***

After having a pleasant time with Kevin in French class, Aleks left the classroom laughing with him. He had finally learned the boy's name when he had told Aleks in a silly, suave voice, 'Je m'appelle Kevin.' The pair walked down the hall together, though they were both headed to different classes.

The shorter boy took this opportunity to ask, "Hey, can I sit with you at lunch or something?"

Smiling calmly, he nodded. "Of course! I'm sure James would love to have you, too. And if not, you're all mine!" He said with pure enthusiasm. "Well, I have English so I need to run. Do you know where you're going to go Aleks?"

"Uh yeah, I think so. The Tech classroom is at the end of this hall, right?" Aleks motioned down the corridor with a tilt of his head. "Have fun in English. It's a straight hour of notes. The teacher's pretty nice, though."

Kevin gave him a pat on the shoulder and a head rub loving the feel of the boy's fluffy hair before walking away at a quick pace. When he opens the door at the end of the hall, James charges through.

"Hey Kevin! Bye Kevin!” He yelled loudly in the hallway before jogging to Tech missing knocking Aleks over by a hair. The Russian tipped sideways and bumped back into the wall accidentally tearing a poster down. Startled by the sound of ripping paper, Aleks jumped around to look at the damage he had done. It was a NASA poster, and was now torn down the middle, hanging in two pieces by staples in the wall. Russian kid destroys a NASA poster. Great, he thought. He quickly walked the rest of the way down the hall and into the Tech classroom, sitting in the open desk closest to James.


	3. Lunch Time

Not knowing it was him who he ran over in the hallway, James looked at Aleks with shock when he sat down next to him. "Oh, Aleks! Hey I'm glad we have this class together. The teacher and my dad are buddies." He said as chattily as a cartoon hyena. "So, how was class with guitar boy?"

"Music with Kevin was fine, but the teacher is kind of a bitch. French class was better," Aleks replied simply, smiling a bit just thinking about Kevin's deep voice and outrageous faux-French accent. Realizing he was zoning out, the younger boy turned to face James and made direct eye contact with him for the first time. Kevin had left him in a good mood. "Would you mind if I sat with you two at lunch next period?"

"You guys and your French class. I absolutely have an issue with that idea." He said jocularly. After laughing, he then sympathized for Kevin. What if Aleks was straight? He was such a good guy yet, if he was straight, then Kevin would probably in his room this weekend crying. Sighing, he supposed he'd tell the boy now rather than later, totally forgetting that these actions were the reason Kevin gets bullied.

"Uh, you know. Kevin really digs you...and if you don’t respect or let him down nicely, you will regret it." He said trying to sound a bit threatening and not taking in consideration in the closed-mindedness of what he said.

"Really digs me?" Aleks paused and sat back shying away from James and his threatening tone. Cheeks pinkened just slightly, he tried to keep a calm expression while he stared at James. "Like…”

"Like wants to take you out on a first date kind of dig. Do you have an issue with that?" James asserted himself by sitting taller ready to fight for Kevin. He suddenly understood the improbable situation that he just dug for his two friends and himself.

"But... we haven't even known each other for a day!" Aleks cried in shock, cheeks and the tops of his ears becoming red and uncomfortably warm. He made sure not to speak too loudly, because he didn't want anyone to hear this. Why was James being so straight-forward with him in the middle of class? Aleks didn't even have time to think about the situation, and the good chance of James, and certainly Kevin, being queer as well. "How do you know? Have you two even been in a class together yet?" Aleks added in denial.

The tech teacher came in suddenly and yelled, "SILENCE!" in a serious voice. It was obviously supposed to be a joke, but James jumped in his seat. The teacher wore a red baseball cap, a blue button down shirt, and black slacks. After cracking a laugh at his strange joke, he did a roll call. The same Russian business occurred but it was silenced quickly as James gave everyone a glare. The teacher, Mr. Mathewson, drew a circuit on the chalkboard with two batteries, three resistors and one switch.

"Does anyone here understand or remember this? It was in your physics class a few years back." He asked good heartedly.

 James hissed at Aleks, "After class." before looking forward and fiddling with his pencil. His leg jiggled underneath the table as regret filled his stomach. Maybe he talked for Kevin a bit too fast. Were they just joking this morning? He couldn’t recall.

   Aleks tried to pay attention to the teacher, since he did seem likable, but he really couldn't. Not after James had spilled the beans on Kevin's apparent crush, and not with James jiggling his fucking leg throughout the entire class. It made Aleks nervous. If what James had said was true, did Aleks like Kevin back? When he really thought about it, he didn't think so. Kevin was handsome and fun, and he had such a dreamy voice... but he had only just met Kevin that morning. He didn't like the idea of hooking up at whim.

As the class progressed, it was obvious James wasn't paying attention. When Mr. Mathewson handed out a paper for everyone to do for technologic review, he asked James to go outside with him for a bit.

"What's wrong? You love my class." Mr. Mathewson said after James got up reluctantly and waited outside,

"Yeah I'm not feeling fucking well." James crossly said.

"It's more than that, and don't use that language with me. What's going on? Is it about Kevin? Are you guys dating yet?" Jordan asked rapidly like a relative, but with concern.  

"What? No! No. I don't like him that way. Anyway, it's none of your business." James retorted back.

"So it is..." Mr.Mathewson said satisfactory with a head tilt.

"So what if it is?"

"Well, get over it quickly. You guys are each others’ rocks." Mr. Mathewson said finally. "Mr. O'Doherty and I are here for you. You know we support you."

"Yeah yeah, and you'll be there for us to cry on. Can I go back to class yet?" He asked finally.

"Yes, you may go back inside." Mr. Mathewson said feeling uncertain if he was helping James or not.

While James was being lectured, Aleks spent most of the rest of class glancing worriedly at the door that James had been pulled out of, and after James came back in, glancing at the clock. He was torn between wanting to leave as soon as possible and never wanting to leave. The Russian boy didn't want to see James's bad side, and he was beginning to feel like that's what he'd see at the end of class.

Mr. Mathewson let the class have free time for the last 5 minutes as he and another student talked about grades from last year since they were repeating senior year. James looked at Aleks. "I hope I didn't come off as, threatening..." He started.

Aleks hesitated. "You kind of did," He replied, turning his head to face the larger boy half-way, glancing him over. At least James had seemed to cool off.

"I'm sorry for doing that..." He laughed a bit, "I seem to say things without thinking." He explained. "I'm not even really sure what Kevin fucking thinks of you to be honest. I just assumed his damn tastes were the same as mine." He said softly.

Looking at James cautiously, Aleks started, "So... are you saying...?"

Leaning back in his chair as if to hide, he said in a faltering whisper, "Uh, yes...I mean, you are attractive. Gays need to stay in packs to protect one another."  James's growing anxiety grew with every word he said. He had only come out to his Tech teacher and Kevin. He knew his English teacher knew, but really, this stranger? His looks must be getting to him, he thought.

"No, no," Aleks leaned away from James, but managed to stay fairly calm, if a bit stuttery. "It doesn't bother me, at all. Actually, I—" The boy paused, looking James in the eye and sighing.  So his suspicions were confirmed, but he wasn't ready to out himself yet. "I don't want to talk about it right now," Aleks concluded and turned away, facing straight forward.

James sighed and let his body relax. The period was over almost as soon as it started. As they made their way to the middle building, it began raining. James said, "I'm sorry if this is all awkward now. And… please-don't-tell-Kevin-I-told-you." He said quickly. "I'll be killed and hung if he knew. He'd be so fucking furious."

 "Yeah, it's fine... knew what, though? If you don't mind me asking. I'm still kind of confused. But I won't mention any of that to Kevin, either way," Aleks looked down at his feet, avoiding puddles of murky water, and occasionally looking up at James.

"That I told you he was gay. He hates it when he hears I've been calling him gay since it gets him injured. Also that he may have a crush on you." He explained looking directly back at the Russian boy. "We were talking about it on the bus." He added as they entered the main building.

"Oh," Is all Aleks said in reply, and his voice cracked a bit as he said it. He had been wondering what they were saying on the bus. Guess he knew now.

***

     After ordering his lunch, high protein, dairy, low carb, he waited for Aleks before going towards the back where Kevin was trying to finish up some papers while eating a peanut butter sandwich and an apple. Aleks had settled for a turkey and swiss sandwich with a brownie for dessert. He wasn't very hungry at the moment, and his mind was wandering. Stopping at the their table, Aleks was unsure who he should sit next to but ended up sitting next to Kevin across from James.

"How was Tech?" Kevin asked as he finished a paper and took a bite out of his PBJ not even looking up though he was aware there was an Aleks next to him.

"Tech was fine. I like the teacher, but... I couldn't concentrate. Had a headache," Aleks replied. He wasn't sure if he should interrupt Kevin's paper writing with conversation. "How was English?"

"Fine. Mr. O'Doherty remembered me as the kid who read Edgar Allan Poe as Edgar Hailing Porn." Kevin said as he looked up from his paper to look at Aleks.

Looking at him skeptically, James said, "That's weird. He barely ever makes a joke," before taking a bite out of his chicken. "Ah, the cafeteria food, sure as hell didn't miss it, and I never will."

After a long silence, Aleks laughed pretty hard at 'Edgar Hailing Porn,' in his sort of quiet, breathless way. Finishing his laughing fit with a squeaky exhale, he took a bite out of his brownie, still smiling as he bit into it. "Sorry."

Kevin smiled, "Why are you apologizing? There's nothing wrong with laughing at a good joke! Hey, are any of you free after school? I want to go into a shop across town and it'll be late at the time I get back. Might need some bodyguards."

James shrugged and swallowed some milk, "I have practice but I can send one of my friends."

Aleks looked from his sandwich to Kevin. "I'm pretty sure I'll be free. But I don't think I would make a very good bodyguard."

"It's fine. It's the physical being that really matters." He said before stuffing his finished papers back into his bag of a backpack. "I'll even buy you a Beatles album if you want as payment."

"By the way, did you meet anyone new in class, Aleks?" James asked with a mouth full of meat. "Beside us losers."

"Um," Aleks chuckled a bit. "Not really. Just teachers. I won't complain, though," He said with a little smirk on his lips.

"Who was the girl that gave you a letter today, James?" Kevin asked leaning back in his chair and unbuttoning his shirt a bit.

"Some girl in my English class. I think her name is Bekki or Rebecca or something. Brown hair, blue eyes. Short."

"I think that's Becca." Kevin said with a pointer finger.

"Did she help in Chem last year?"

"Yeah."

Aleks stayed quiet while the other two boys conversed. James must get a lot of love notes, he thought. Then he remembered the note James had given him in the first class. Aleks reached back and stuck his fingers into the back pocket of his black jeans, checking to see if the note was still there. It was.

Kevin looked at Aleks for a brief moment and guessed teasingly, "What's that? Did you get a love letter too?"

"Uh, no," Aleks replied a little too quickly, pulling his hand away from his pocket. "It's a note from my mom." Nodding with suspicion, Kevin let it go. Whatever it was simply didn't involve him. He partially hoped it was from his mother. Kevin didn’t know what he’d think if he found out Aleks had a girlfriend. "I guess I'm the only single one here then." He said with a fake feminine sigh. "Oh, and hey, it being September, who's excited for With the Beatles? It's going to be out within a month. Or at least that's what I heard." He added with passion.

James propped his feet up on the table, "Eh, they're new, they're British. They are nothing too fancy. Though I have to say, their music is pretty neat."

"I'm excited," the Russian announced, laughing a little. "I'm hoping they won't have as many cover songs on this one. Because I think they have a lot of potential, as far as solo stuff goes," Aleks spoke mostly to Kevin. He was a little disappointed by James' lack of enthusiasm, but he didn't seem like he'd be too into music anyway. James sighed at the two fanboys and at that moment, chose to put his tray away. "Beatles...That's not even how you spell beetles. What's the big whoop?"

Kevin nodded and agreed towards Aleks' opinions, "I just want them to come to America to be honest with you."

Aleks quirked an eyebrow, smirking a bit at James. "I could ask you what the big whoop is with wrestling, too," He then turned to Kevin again. "They have to at some point, right? Especially if they're getting popular here. And I think they like American artists a lot, so they'd probably be more than willing to."

James mimicked Aleks in a high pitched voice, "What’s the big whoop of wrestling. Well it's better than what those guys are. What are they? From the dirt parts of England? They don't look that stylish to me."

Looking at James with a glare, Kevin said, "Oh hush. I'll be there at your competition if you let me dream about the best singers- after Elvis, age before beauty-coming to America!"

Aleks thought about taking a dig at James by mentioning the heart note after he insulted the Beatles' style since Aleks himself tended to mimic them a bit, but he didn't want to cause trouble by just trying to be cheeky. Though he was still feeling daring, knowing now that the other two boys were also queer. "Alright, enough. James can have his sweaty muscle men, we can have our dreamy singers."

Laughing a bit nervously, Kevin nodded, "Yeah, James, you get your share, we get ours."

James whispered to himself, "You little shit." Under his breath at Aleks and then gave a hearty, "Okay! Whatever! They're absolutely great." Before sitting down again and waiting till the period was over. He liked big sweaty men as a matter of fact. He certainly preferred them over this little bitchy boy. Strong muscular men with this hard throbbing dicks, James thought lewdly letting his mind go wild. Much better than the squirming thin Russian boy who looks like he never weighed over 130lbs in his life. What would it be like to even have sex with him? Would his lips be soft? Would his gag reflexes be bad or good? James hoped that whatever the case, he’d be thorough to pleasure the other.

Once his smutty ideas were gone from mind, James asked "What do you guys have after this class? For me it's Biochemistry, Designing, Gym and Art."

"Art, Archeology, which is History, Anatomy and Gym. Oh what fun. I think we have gym together, again." Replied Kevin.

"Math, Biochemistry, Gym, Designing. Guess we all have Gym together." Aleks replied. Nobody had said much after he had made his sweaty men comment and it worried Aleks a little bit. Maybe he should just come out and tell them, who would it hurt? But in the end, he still decided against it.

"Gee, now we all have to see James's sweaty men in action. I'm not fit for this line of work." Kevin said jokingly as he tipped his chair back a dangerous angle, "Better as well call me a wimp."

"Aw now, don't say that. And watch yourself!" James said before Kevin tipped it way too far back and fell. The lunch room went silent for a moment, but went back to normal after a few seconds. No one came to help.

"Jesus fucking christ Kevin, are you okay?" James asked as kevin struggled to get his chair and body up again.

Aleks quickly turned sideways in his chair and leaned forward, helping to pull Kevin and his chair back up into a sitting position.

"Man, the teachers don't warn you about that without a reason. Did you hit your head or something?"

Kevin felt around his hair and commented, "Mild bruising, but more importantly, my hairdo is ruined," He quickly fixed his Presley like hair and then sat back normally. "That wasn't too cool of me was it."

"No it wasn't asshole." James said, "You already have enough injuries as it is. The bell's ringing, let's go. Do you need help getting to Math, Aleks?"

Thinking for a moment, Aleks nodded and chuckled a bit. "Yeah. I actually have no idea where the math room is."


	4. Reassurance

After giving the boy directions, the other two went their own ways. The rest of Kevin's day went well compared to last years where he had his head flushed in a toilet. Luckily no one messed with him this year except the trip in the hallway and during History when someone threw wads of paper at him. He was glad when the day was over since it just got easier because he had protection when near James. On the other hand, James's day went on as usual. He saw a pretty cute guy in his Bio class and got his girlfriend’s number. He knew it was an asshole move, but he didn’t know any other way to talk to him appropriately.

Before his gym class, bagged gym uniform and shoes in hand, Aleks entered the boy's locker room. He was relieved to see that he had arrived early, and that there weren't many boys already there. In his past school years he had gotten into the habit of changing early so he didn't have to be nervous about taking his clothes off in front of his peers, or the occasional erection... luckily, the latter usually wasn't a problem now that he had past his more awkward teen years. Aleks walked down to one of the farthest rows of lockers, and sat down on the bench to take out his gym clothes, shoes, and lock. A few minutes later James and Kevin arrived, a bit disappointed to see the boy already fully dressed. They stripped and showed off their muscles to each other. Both had a bit more muscle than last year from physical labor over the summer. It was request from Kevin back in 10th grade that they would change close by each other in case one of them had a total hard on for a dude. The other would then hide it with their body. Now it just came a custom to change near each other.

Waiting for his pair of friends, Aleks leaned against the doorway forcing himself not to watch them undress. He really was tempted, but the fear of being found out overpowered the temptation. It wasn't so much James or Kevin noticing him looking that worried him, it was the thought of being caught by someone else. Once they were fully dressed, they met up with Aleks and did their gym exercises. They had to run for five minutes, which winded Kevin but did nothing to James; do pull ups, which both could do with ease; do pushups, Kevin did less than James; and sit ups, James did more than Kevin.

Before the bell rang, James asked Aleks with a joking sincerity as he caught his breath, "Who do you think makes better boyfriend material?"

 During class, Aleks had generally done as well as Kevin, though he ran faster and did less pull-ups.  He laughed at James' question, but sounded nervous as he did so. "I don't want to make either of you jealous, so I can't answer."

Kevin, forgetting the place and situation, looked at James directly and stated, "You told him, didn't you?"

Looking as innocent as a liar without an acting degree could he said, "Told him what?" Before getting up and fleeing into the locker rooms when the bell rang. Kevin followed in pursuit.

On their way out, a girl of a short statute tapped on Aleks's back asking for attention. "Uh, Alexs?" She asked in a small voice. Wanting very badly to follow his friends into the locker room, and worried he had blown James' cover, Aleks replied to the girl with a quick "Uh, yeah?"

She blushed and looked at her feet, "Uh, Alex, are you free after school?"

In the locker room, Kevin followed James as he ran for protection to the stalls. Sprinting the last few feet, he was able to jump inside the stall with James as he closed it in a hurry. James, surprised, backed up against the toilet. The situation reminded him of when they were in 10th grade and kissed in the stalls the first time. He remembered the scared and confused sounds their bodies had created when they touched each other. What stood out the most in the brief flashback was the kiss they shared before and afterwards. The sweaty cheapness of Kevin’s mouth against his pre-pubic face, and the sloppiness their lips sliding against each other. Both too chicken to go farther than groping and kissing.

"Ow. You asshole." James said harshly as he almost tripped into the toilet.   
“You fucking told! You promised you god damn wouldn’t!” Kevin yelled furiously in fear.

“It’s fine! It’s fine. He’s totally cool with it! Didn’t you see how fucking smitten he was with you a moment ago?” James retorted in a leveled voice.

“I just...You fucking lied.” Kevin said again feeling the harsh kick of his friends betrayal.

“I know, I fucked up, I apologize.” James said. Once it seemed like Kevin gained a sense of the situation he added. “He’s probably looking for us now, let’s go.”

Aleks frowned at the girl, looking sympathetic. "I'm not, actually... uh, don't take it personally, I have plans with friends. Sorry." Whenever he turned down girls, he was usually lying about that, but this time he meant it. That is, if he'd still be able to go with Kevin after what had just happened.

The girl looked up at him furiously, "Jeez! All the guys are such assholes these days." She said acerbically.  The girls behind her giggled like hyenas.

"See! It was easy."

"That wasn't such a hard dare afterall." The short girl said once she walked back to her friends.

 Shaking his head like a bobble-head figurine, Aleks glared at the girls and silently mocked their hyena cackling before rushing into the boys locker room. But once he was in, he wasn't sure what to do. In the locker rooms, Kevin was sitting down where his locker was and undoing it silently. The cat was out of the bag, just knowing it was had a big impact on him mentally.  James was applying cold pressure on his nose in the boy's bathroom since Kevin ended up punching him.

Aleks finally made it into the locker rooms and slowly made his way over to his locker. He saw Kevin at the opposite end and thought that he might as well change before talking to him, though he wasn't sure what he'd say anyway. Maybe he should just come clean and tell him that he was gay, too. It would probably make everything a lot easier between the three of them. But he'd decide later. Hoping that Kevin wouldn't think that he was teasing him, Aleks looked straight ahead at his locker as he quickly took off his gym shirt. As the Russian changed, Kevin glanced at Aleks through his peripheral vision and sighed before getting changed himself. James came out of the bathroom with a pair of toilet paper balls in his nose and blood on his shirt.

"At least now I can tie-dye it." He said jokingly before getting changed next to Kevin.

"Yeah. well, I'm sorry I made your nose bleed. Should have punched your liver."

"Oh, don't be that mean."

***

Over on Aleks’s side, he put on his navy blue and white, pinstriped dress shirt, quickly buttoning it up and then slipping off his gym shorts. He then bended over and picked up his drainpipe jeans from the floor, putting his ankles through the leg holes and beginning to shimmy them up his legs with some effort. Aleks hoped to God that James and Kevin would ignore him during this part, but he couldn't tell what they were doing because he still stared straight at the locker in front of him. Unluckily for him, James nudged Kevin with his arm as he peaked at Aleks's naked tush.  Kevin's face was red as a balloon. They both got their pants on as soon as possible and belted them down.

Finally, school ended and James was left figuring on who would be on the wrestling team this year and who wouldn't. Kevin lead Aleks to the parking lot.

"I don't have a car, and I suppose you don't either. It's a two hour walk, can you make it?" He asked a bit worried.

"My mom might be worried, but in the end I think she knows I'll be fine... where are we going, again?" Aleks asked, chuckling a bit as he buttoned up his black close-cut coat. It was a little chilly out. Kevin pulled his pleather jacket around his body and  tied his blue scarf snugly around his neck.

"Just downtown to the album shop." He said already walking at a brisk pace with his long legs. "What do you think of school?"

As Aleks picked up his walking pace to match Kevin's longer strides, he thought Kevin looked nice with his jacket and scarf, like a teddy bear boy. "It was a lot bigger than I was expecting. I guess Pennsylvania puts more of its money into schools than Massachusetts, or at least Boston."

"Yeah, our school seems pretty nice. The people are still the same though. I used to live in Oregon, and boy, were they snotty. They're still snotty here of course, but more less chatty about it."

As they walked towards downtown, Kevin talked a lot about his childhood and how he lived with his mom, sister, and dad. His mom worked as a nurse and his dad as a geneticist. His sister was working towards a degree in architecture.  He had two cats and liked hanging around music stores. He worked at the music store they were headed to during the summer, and he thought he might try to do full time after high school for a year. He used to play soccor until his ankle broke and his mom forced him out of it. After rambling for some time, he then asked about Aleks.

Since most people were usually curious about his Russian heritage, and he trusted Kevin, Aleks explained to him that his mother had defected from the USSR following the end of the war, while she was pregnant with him. His father was either dead or somewhere in Vladivostok. He was born in Boston, had a fairly normal childhood, but his mother spoke Russian to him at home so he knew a decent amount and could communicate with native speakers fairly easily if he had to. Aleks' mother and himself had moved from Boston to PA for job opportunities. His mother had a degree in astronomy, but since it was a degree from a Soviet university none of the reputable colleges in Boston wanted to use her as a professor. So they had moved to this smaller college town in hopes of his mother being hired.

As he told his story, Kevin, being the hopeless romantic he is, imagined him and Aleks living the big time and taking care of his mother and fixing all the issues he ever had while jamming with the Beatles and Elvis Presley.

"Did your mom succeed in getting a job when you moved here?" He asked realistically as they entered town.

Aleks shrugged, "Well, we only moved here about a week ago. She hasn't done her interview yet." After Kevin nodded understanding the situation, they stood outside the store and watched as the sun disappeared before entering the shop.

"I'm not too fond of the cold, but fall is magnificent." Kevin commented.

"Yeah, all the leaves and stuff... what's your favorite time of day?" Aleks asked Kevin just out of curiosity.

"Around nine in the morning when the sun hits the bed and the only thing that comes to mind is your lovers face, the smell of blueberry pancakes and the feeling of comfort," He answered with a deep dreamy look as if he was quoting a poem or old words from someone else. Once inside the shop, Kevin searched through old albums looking for anything interesting. "How about you?" he asked biting back coughing from the dust.

Aleks smiled at Kevin as he recited the poem. He was beginning to notice just how dreamy Kevin's voice was... Did he ask him a question? "Me? I don't know. I think I like it best just before sunset."

"Well, it is prime time for living." He said with a toothy smile before taking an album out and putting it on. Love Me Do started to play slowly from the phonogram but then picked up speed smoothing out all the jumps. It sound just like the Beatles were right there in the room.

"Ah, I like John's voice but a lot of of his actions make me question him.” Kevin commented as the Russian boy leaned against the wall, rolling his shoulders to get the kinks out of them.

"Yeah. I think he's the best singer, by far, but you can't let yourself forget about his problems... he seems like a nice enough person beyond that, though. I kind of get the feeling that he goes deep, you know?" Aleks actually had a pretty big crush on John. Maybe that would be his way of coming out to Kevin, when the time was right.

Kevin went back to looking through albums and the time flew by fast. He commentating on other 1950-60 bands that didn't have much publicity, but good songs or interesting history. Singularity, he talked about death. He believed everyone just didn't exist once they died, only in memories. "How about you?" He asked after flipping the disc while I Saw Her Standing There start. "Also, if you want, you can stay over at my place since it is a friday night." He added.

Aleks considered the question at hand for a moment. Apparently John Lennon wasn't the only person in the world who went deep. "I think you're right, yeah. That's the realistic way of thinking about it. It would be kind of cool if reincarnation was a thing but I don't think it is. And I wouldn't want to go to heaven. Seems like it would get boring,"     When I Saw Her Standing There started playing, Aleks started tapping his boots. It was probably one of his top three songs on that album. He then grinned at Kevin. "Staying over would be great! I'll have to call my mom when I get there, though." The last part of his response made him feel significantly less cool.

"Yeah, don't worry, we have a phone." Kevin said. His mother would be surprised to see him with a friend other than James. Only his sister knew he was into guys. His father suspected it, but his mother knew nothing. Feeling a bit daring he went up to Aleks and held out his hand, “Wish to dance?” Once the Russian bashfully accepted, they spun around in circles at an arms with apart seeing to not to making the boy uncomfortable.

They danced around a few times in the small shop while I Saw Her Standing There stopped and I Ask You Why began. Kevin’s eyes were closed and his hands felt like they were being kissed by butterflies where Aleks’s hand began.. It was like electricity ran through Aleks, he thought romantically. Eventually I Ask You Why stopped and Kevin let Aleks’s hands go. “Thanks, I’ve always wanted to dance to the Beatles,” He said sheepishly.

“Uh-yeah, no problem.” Aleks replied, his ears pinkining. It was an odd request, but he didn’t want to make Kevin upset.

"I'm going to pay for these albums, do you have anything you want?"

"No, I'm good. Thanks though," Aleks said, shaking his head and following Kevin over to the cash register.

“Hey, man, I wouldn't mention the Russian part of your life in front of my dad. My mom won't care however." Kevin said after paying.

Aleks raised an eyebrow at Kevin as they made their way outside. "I won't. Is he big on the Communist conspiracy thing?"

"He's not so opened minded on a few things." Kevin explained. While they walked down a few neighborhoods, it started to rain again and the temperature dropped a few degrees.

"Ah, I hope neither of us catch a cold." He commented as they walked down his street. "Well, on the positive side, my mom makes pretty good soup."

"How far away is your house?" Aleks asked picking up his pace for having fallen back a few steps while he buttoned his jacket up all the way.

"A few homes down." He replied. "My mom will try to dot on you by the way."

***

As they came up to his house it was obvious they were well off. A nice car was in the driveway and the house looked like a normal home for a normal family, in need of a paint job, but quite new looking otherwise. They went through the back and had to climb through a rose bush to get inside since the fence door was broken. After entering through the back door in the kitchen, a siamese cat simultaneously  jumped off the counter and scurried into another room.

"Hey, I'm home." Kevin announced. A TV in another room went off and a woman late in her forties came into the kitchen. She wore slacks and a ruffled t-shirt with a simple necklace on. Her engagement ring was a small diamond and her wedding ring a regular gold band. It seemed like she was relaxing after a day of work.

"Welcome home dear, do you have a friend with you? Oh my, how skinny he is!" His mom commented with hand motions. Aleks hoped that his mother wouldn't dote on him too much, but nevertheless laughed quietly and raised one of his hands, waving a bit. Kevin's mom seemed nice enough at least.

"Your sister is at her friend's house right now. Food is left overs and tomorrow I have something in the morning so I'll be taking the car." She told Kevin after dotting on Aleks.  After he replied with an aspirated breath, “Yes, Mom,” and then told Aleks that the phone was in the hallway. For now he’d he'd get dinner warmed up; Kevin and his mother brought out the old chicken from a day ago, chopped it up, and threw it into broth. Kevin threw in noodles, and finally chicken noodle soup was made.

His mother stayed in the kitchen cutting vegetables as he took their bags and put them on the coat tree. Meanwhile, Aleks walked into the hall where the phone was located. He looked down the hall to make sure nobody was there, then used the phone's rotary dial to call his home phone number. Aleks' mother always insisted that he spoke Russian when it was just the two of them talking, so he always did, and now he was a bit worried that Kevin's father might catch him.

Upstairs, Kevin's father was finishing taking a shower. The man was around fifty and had the beginnings of a beer belly. He loved his children and was faithful towards his wife. He knew Kevin wasn't the straightest boy out there, and he wasn't too pleased when his queer friend James stayed over. He detested Russians. He believed that NASA going to space would soon make the USA the best out of the world and the richest. The logic for that was a bit skewed, but he believed it.  Concurrently, Aleks finished speaking with his mom and hung up with a quick "Da, okey. Poka," and then made his way back over to Kevin. He took off his coat and hung it up on the rack, relieved that nobody had seemed to notice his conversation. "Should I take off my shoes?"

"Whatever is most comfortable for you. I think we should go to my room since it can get rowdy down here." Said Kevin in an unrude indifferent matter. Nearby, his mother took a few bowls out of the cupboard and gave one to Kevin and another to Aleks.

"Take as much as you want and eat wherever." She said sweetly, "I'm going to watch my shows." Kevin's father sequentially  came down stairs after Kevin served himself a bowl. He looked at Aleks with a suspicion.

"Who're you?"

 Aleks thanked Kevin's mother and stood next to Kevin at the stove, waiting to fill his own bowl. Hearing a man's voice behind him, the Russian glanced behind his shoulder and then turned the whole way around. "Oh, hey. I'm Aleks," He assumed that this was Kevin's father, so he made sure to pronounce 'Aleks' in an especially American way.

“Okay, well, nice to meet you. Don't hurt yourselves, kids." Said he with minimal suspicion before getting himself a bowl of soup. Later he sat down at the table and read a magazine. At the same time, Kevin waited for Aleks to serve himself before heading towards the staircase. He paused next to the doorway to the garage and quickly got two beer cans.

"Don't tell anyone." He said in a hushed tone with his mouth wide in a smile before hurrying upstairs, the two beers clicking against each other. Once Aleks grinned back at the taller boy, he followed him up the stairs. Chicken noodle soup and beer seemed like an odd combination, but he wouldn't complain about drinking with Kevin.

***

While leading the Russian to his room, the other man worried about what he'd think about the huge picture of the Beatles in his room over his bed and the strange knickknacks he had collected over time, like broken fountain pens and pieces of ocean glass, but he didn't seem to be the teasing kind. Entering his room, his bed was a normal single with white sheets and a navy quilt. His floor was wooden but had a carpet in front of his closet which was closed. There were papers of cartoon drawings on his ground and a few spare pencils here and there. There was also a radio on his bookcase covered with his knickknacks, albums, and only a few books. "Sit anywhere you want."

Aleks made his way into Kevin's room, choosing to sit down on the floor in front of his bed, back leaning against it. He would have sat on the bed but was worried about spilling soup on it. After getting situated on the floor, legs crossed and bowl of soup in front of him, Aleks looked up and noticed the Beatles poster. He smiled. Kevin then handed Aleks a beer and sat next to him. His knees touching the others. Glad the boy admired the poster over his bed, he relaxed a bit more and took a spoonful of soup.

"Is your mom okay with you staying over night?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah. She sounded kind of exasperated, but that's like her default emotion," Aleks said chuckling a little bit and taking a spoonful of soup as well.

With a smile Kevin joked, "Yeah, mothers. It's like they regret having you from the moment you become older than 10."  After he finished his soup he opened his beer and took a sip. "Do you have much work from school?"

Aleks shook his head. "The only homework we really got was a worksheet in math, and I finished that in class. Did you finish your work during lunch, or what?"

"Yeah, I was able to. My calculus teacher is quite bizarre. Gives us two worksheets, then takes one back. Perhaps she has a bad memory." He commented. Aleks then Nodded absentmindedly and set his now-empty bowl on the floor beside his before popping the tab on his can of beer and opening it.

"So... do you and James hang out a lot?" he asked after taking a sip.

Taking another swig, Kevin answered with a reddening race, "Yeah. Ever since 10th grade. We were at a party and we met up. Some stuff went down and then we made up. We were friends ever since." His thumb rubbed a spot on the can absentmindedly as condensation gathered on the aluminum. Aleks at that time considered Kevin's response, wondering what he meant when he said that 'stuff went down' and that they had 'made up,' but decided it was best not to bring it up. "He seems cool."

"He's a real ass." He said afterwards  as an easy smile turning into a quick frown. Subsequently, Kevin inhaled and said, "You do know both of us are..." He stopped when he heard someone walking up the stairs and go into his parents room. It sounded like his mother from their light footsteps. Aleks also held his breath until the footsteps passed. Once he exhaled softly, he looked at Kevin and nodded.

"Yeah... James kind of let that out. I don't mind though." Aleks was silent, then began again hesitantly, "Actually, I..." and then trailed off.

Kevin laughed bit uneasily he said slowly, "I hope he didn't say as much as I think he said," before chugging a good portion of the beer with ease.  "Let's just listen to the Beatles and look at the night sky..." He said a bit out of it.

The Russian nodded in agreement. He took a swig of his beer and smiled again at Kevin, but his smile had a certain sadness in it. "Yeah. Good idea."

***

Kevin proceeded to get up and opened his window where a portion of roof was hanging over the porch. Going back into his room, he grabbed a blanket and put on the song A Taste of Honey knowing Twist and Shout would play later on. He had created his own peaceful world and invited Aleks inside.

"The roof is stable, you won't fall through." He said as he climbed through himself with his beer in hand.

 Aleks slipped his way out of the window, one leg at a time, and stepped onto the roof. He wasn't a fan of heights so his legs wobbled a bit, but as soon as he leaned against the outside wall of the house he was fine. Taking another sip of beer, he looked up at the sky. The rainclouds had passed, and the stars were out. Paul McCartney sang for them back inside of Kevin's room.

I dream of your first kiss, and then,

I feel upon my lips again,

A taste of honey... tasting much sweeter than wine…

"The sky is nice here. You couldn't see the stars as well in Boston."

"Perhaps they're correct about 'global warming' then." Kevin said as he looked up at the sky too. The stars shined and sparkled and the moon has a waning crescent.  "Fucking James," He mumbled to himself, why couldn't Aleks have been his first. Why was it that his first time had to be with James? Both drunk and stoned as hell during the summer.

Reminiscing, he remember the scenario. In the summer of 1960, he found himself inside a school mate’s home. There were at least fifty people including James. He didn’t know James personally, just as the guy on the wrestling team. There were kids his age and older: having sex on the floors and couches, smoking near a window and distributing alcohol. When he took a sip of a beer can, it tasted and smelled like piss. Perhaps if he had believed his father when he said alcohol killed your brain, he would have never met James. Coincidently, after making a big scene of gagging and hacking up the alcohol, some kid yelled, “James! Look at that ungrateful douche puking up your homemade beer!”

The other boy walked up to Kevin who was wiping his mouth trying to get rid of the acerbic taste of puke on his mouth. “You insulted my beer?”

  
“What?” Kevin asked in a daze, the smoke in the room made his mind groggy.

James laughed and took Kevin by his hair, “Do you think that shit’s for free? Come with me.” Pulling the Asian boy whom at that time was as tall as James, upstairs. He then talked to him quite unbelievably. James knew Kevin was queer and questioned him about it. Apparently he didn’t give two shits about his gross beer and wanted to know what it was like to kiss a boy. Once James finished what he wanted, he left Kevin in the bedroom, pants torn a bit and lips bleeding. Kevin didn’t know if he liked boys after that, but the next week he saw James again. They repeated their actions under full lust and confusion. It was an abusive relationship, he was certain. Kevin wanted romance, James wanted sex, it was never meant to be. At least they were friends now. He was glad to know Aleks then and there on the roof.


	5. School Ends

After hearing Kevin's mutter, Aleks turned his head to the taller boy and furrowed his eyebrows in concern. "I really don't mind, Kevin. And I wouldn't tell anyone, so..."

Then, furrowing his eyebrows back at the other comically, Kevin said clearly, "I don't care anymore who knows and who doesn't. Just, don't force yourself to be around us if you don't want to." Changing his tone he said flirtatiously, "You're too perfect to be around us abnormals anyway." This caused Aleks to sigh and turn away from Kevin. He looked up at the sky and took a final sip of beer. He didn't say anything for a long moment, considering something. A Taste of Honey ended, and There's A Place began.

Kevin soon drifted into a light slumber on the roof. His head fell on Aleks and luckily, the roof wasn't slanted so he didn't tumble downwards. The wind came back around and clouds moved over the moon as if to hide it. Before the stars puttered out goodbye to be concealed once more, Aleks shivered from the cool breeze and pulled the blanket that Kevin had brought up around their bodies. He turned his head, careful not to wake Kevin, and watched him for a while. He really was quite handsome, nice hair and eyes. The way Kevin's face was proportioned reminded him a bit of a Siamese cat — it was cute. Not to mention his voice. Aleks sighed again. Just as he was getting up the courage to tell Kevin, he fell asleep on him. Maybe he really wasn't meant to tell him so quickly.

Unintentionally, but perhaps intentionally by God, Kevin's siamese cat jumped up on the windowstill and meowed. She looked at Aleks as if to say, "Well, are you going to just watch him? Make a move."

  Aleks likewise glanced over to Niko. Kevin really did look a lot like a Siamese cat... Something in that the way the cat was watching him so expectantly gave Aleks a shot of courage. He nudged Kevin a bit in order to wake him up. "It's getting cold out here." Once he woke up a bit, Kevin looked into Aleks's eyes and drowsily said something about them being hypnotizing and beautiful. Niko then jumped back down into his room and onto his bed meowing in the process.

Unable to fight back a small laugh at the 'hypnotizing and beautiful' comment, Aleks smiled at Kevin. "Let's go back inside, yeah?" Kevin then woke up properly then, and nodded. He rolled his body into his room landing with a thud unsteadily on his feet.

"You can have the bed, I'll just lie here now..." He said as he took the blanket and curled up on the ground.

Finally stepping back inside and closing the window behind him, Aleks looked down awkwardly at the boy who laid beside his booted feet. He figured that he might as well get it over with. Now was as good a time as ever, and maybe Kevin would be drunk and drowsy enough to not remember the next morning. Though that probably wouldn't be the case, and Aleks knew that. "Uh, Kevin?"

Mumbling into the sheets he said, "Yes?"

"You... you just," Aleks exhaled deeply, a bit frustrated with himself. Why did he have to make this such a big deal? "Don't worry about anything, because... I'm gay too."

"You know, James and I will have your back when you need it." Kevin eventually said after blinking a few times. Obviously, he was surprised. He opened his mouth, then closed it. "Great." he said before closing his mouth again and thinking. Simultaneously, Aleks nodded, face reddening. Only two other people in the world knew that about him, and neither of them were as important as Kevin. He had only known Kevin for the day, but he was already important. That scared Aleks.

"Yeah, thanks for that... we can be the three musketeers, except gay," His laugh was still a bit nervous. "You sure you want to sleep on the floor? You can have your bed."   

"No, no. Guests first, of course unless you want to share." He said cockily taking into consideration that Aleks was blushing. He felt sure that his comment wouldn't burden the boy, and hoped it'd make him feel better.

Laughing again, more confident this time, Aleks quirked an eyebrow at Kevin. "Oh, do /you/ want to share?"

His smile turning into something a bit more genuine he joked back half seriously, "Of course I do. It'd be a honor to be with such a handsome man."

Afterwards, Aleks sat on the edge of the bed and took off his boots and socks setting them on the floor. The clothes he was wearing wouldn't be the most comfortable to sleep in so he decided that he would take at least his pants off once Kevin had turned off the lights and gone to sleep. The Russian flopped onto his back, legs still hanging off the edge, arms above his head. A cool breeze crept into the room from a crack in the windowsill and it made Aleks want to bury himself in the covers. Niko then jumped up next to Aleks and kept the boy company. Kevin shifted in his sleep every few 10 minutes making it seem like he was sleeping pretty restlessly. He mumbled shit in his dreams too. The poor boy was having the best wet dream and it only made it worse that the person whom his body wanted was only a few feet away. So close, yet so far away, his body cried out at the same time the boy in his dreams made him orgasm.

 

On the other hand, Aleks drifted off as well after shimmying off his jeans and petting the cat for a few minutes. As he fell asleep he thought incoherent thoughts of Kevin and James and the other two men who knew. The first verse of A Taste of Honey played on repeat in his drowsy mind.

***

In the morning, Kevin woke up first, went downstairs, got two cups of coffee and two bagels, and went back to his room. Not sure whether to wake up Aleks or not, he put the mug and bagel on the side table of his bed and watched the boy for a moment. His cat was curled up around the Russian’s head and his face looked pretty serene with his lashes casting mini shadows on his cheeks and his lips open a bit. He felt his body go a hot and his morning wood grew. Sighing, he tip-toed out of the room into the bathroom.

Once in the bathroom, Kevin locked the door behind him and undid his PJ bottoms. He thought of Aleks’s body  from what he could recall from the locker room. Feeling the heat grow in his groin, he allowed his mind to wander as his hands moved around his dick and fondled his balls. Imagining his own hands dancing across the boy's bare chest and what it'd be like to touch his dick, he felt his orgasm coming. When he tried to imagine what Aleks's mouth would feel like against body, he came and sat on the toilet, stiff in pleasure.

After finishing his business, Kevin sat on the toilet and thought, what the fuck now. The boy is gay, but he may not be gay for him. A bit crestfallen, Kevin looked outside at the sun shining through the big oak and birds chirping outside. Feelings can change, he knew that, but by how much? He supposed he could just find someone else if it didn't work out. After brushing his teeth and showering, he went back into his room to find Aleks awake.

Aleks had woken up as Niko left his head in pursuit of Kevin. The Russian boy blinked his blurry eyes in the bright sunlight that poured onto his face from the window. Hesitantly he sat up, and the warmth of the covers fell off of his shoulders. Aleks yawned and looked over to where Kevin had been sleeping the previous night, finding only an abandoned nest of blankets and pillows as well as the breakfast on the side table.

"Morning, hope you don't mind coffee, there's more food downstairs if you want to go get some." Kevin said as a greeting as he entered the room with his hair sticking out in all directions from his shower.

"Coffee's just fine. Uh, do you have cream?" Having put his pants back on, Aleks sat cross-legged at the edge of the bed, chewing on a bite of bagel. He smiled at Kevin, running a hand through his bed head when he sat on the floor next to where Aleks was on the bed.  

"Ah, yeah there is. Let's go downstairs for it I suppose. Doesn't make sense to just stay in my room just to listen to music. My mom has some cool albums herself." He got up and took his coffee mug and bagel in hand. Once they sat themselves on the kitchen table, Kevin gave Aleks some cream a bit surprised how dirty his mind interpreted what he had asked for at the beginning, and sat down a chair away from him. The Russian looked down at his coffee as he moved the mug in a circular motion, watching the cream swirl into a vortex and disappear into a cloud of lighter beige.

He yawned quite loudly and brought his eyes up to Kevin's face. "Did you sleep alright on the floor?"

Faintly smiling he answered, "Yeah. How did you sleep? I saw Niko and you became lovers."

 There was a knock at the door then. Kevin gave Aleks a ‘one moment signal’ and went to answer it.

"Hey! You won't believe what I saw yesterday." Said a familiar voice as Kevin walked them into the kitchen with, Kevin looked quite annoyed at their sudden appearance.

James looked around and saw Aleks, "Oh wow. Hey Aleks...I'm not interrupting anything, right?"

Aleks turned to face the bearded young man. "Oh, hey James... I don't know, I don't think you are," The sitting boy replied with a laugh.

Kevin sighed and ended up getting James a bagel and a mug of coffee as he talked about the boys that joined the wrestling team. "There's this one freshman that's like this fucking nice shade of tan and his eyes are like goddamn ice. I don't know if I've seen such a hot boy before. He passed the test too, so I'll be in charge of his body." He said with a laugh.

"I hope that boy has a good lawyer." Kevin muttered under his breath as he gave James his food.

Chuckling at Kevin's mutter, Aleks took another bite of his bagel. "Blue eyes? I think blue eyes are kind of overrated."

Blowing out a big puff of air James retorted, "They are not. They show a person's emotions so much more than other colors. And when someone with blue eyes looks at you directly, it's like you're an open book." He then took an angry bite out of his bagel. "Ugh! This is whole wheat. Kevin, are you trying to poison me?"

Laughing angrily he replied, "If only it was that easy. It's from my mom's stash. Aleks and I get high good quality white bread. Have fun in your old granny bread, James."

"Don't you know that whole wheat is better for you, anyway? You'll never be a wrestling world champion if you eat white bagels," Aleks sipped his coffee.

After poking at Kevin, James said HA! and ate his bagel peacefully. "One day I will win the state championship, and when that day comes, Kevin owes me a kiss."

"Oh, no I don't." Kevin said promptly, "I'm pretty sure you've had enough of me."

"Yeah so anyway, what are you doing today?"

Aleks looked at the two boys in front of him, shrugging one of his shoulders. "Do you two have plans?"

James pointed at Kevin, "Just to hang around this jerk."

After that comment, Kevin looked at James with narrowed eyebrows, "I was planning to stay away from this jerk. I have no plans except going down to town to play my guitar. I heard there's going to be a gig tonight from one of the local's band."

"Well, I could go and party seeing that there's nothing going on."

 

Something about the way that Kevin and James insulted each other so freely and yet were so close made Aleks a tad jealous. He had always wanted a friendship like that, but he had never found one. The news of a gig interested Aleks and he leaned closer to Kevin. "What's that about a gig?"

"Some town kids have a band and are performing tonight so I wanted to see it with my own eyes since that's how the Beatles started." He explained.

"He also wants to say hello to the singer since he has a nice ass." James said with an eyebrow wiggle.

"Ugh, that's not why I talk to him. Fuck, their songs are pretty okay, okay?" Kevin said back.

Laughing a bit at the other two boys' exchange, Aleks pressed on. "What are their songs like, usually?"

"Shit." Insulted James.

"Like a more moody Beatles." Kevin explained.

“Yeah, shit.” James repeated which caused Aleks to raise an eyebrow before turning back to Kevin.  

"Oh wow, that actually sounds really cool. You wouldn't mind if I, like... tagged along, would you? Unless you have plans with the singer," Aleks chuckled again, awkwardly.  James's mouth went into an O shape before he laughed evidently surprised.

"This kid catches on quick." He praised.

Embarrassed, Kevin answered with a red face, "Uh, no. We wouldn't mind having you around...I have no plans with the singer."

Aleks quickly replied, "Well, I mean, I don't have to,"  worried that he might have asked too soon.

However, Kevin feared that Aleks would distance himself on impulse so he said, "No, no. Please come. It'll be great. The more the merrier." This brought about James laughing loudly. Kevin was really fishing for this boy.

The Russian nodded slowly. "As long as I won't bother anyone..." He said before looking at James, who was laughing, then to Kevin, who was blushing. He cracked a sly smile.

"Well, if you need to get back home to freshen up, I'll drive ya." James said. "I came here at first to just pick up some homework, but now I have a date with both of you."

"Homework? You're already forgetting homework and it was just the first day? Great." Kevin said in exhaustion. He took his mug and put it in the sink before going to get his bag to find the papers James asked for.

 

 


	6. After School Activities

After giving getting his papers, James stood up and collected his items. Meanwhile, Aleks reached a hand up to the tangle of dark brown hair on his scalp and running his fingers through it, Aleks grimaced a bit. "I think I could stand to freshen up."

“Good, because I am bringing you home. When does it start?" James said absentmindedly as he looked at the homework trying to remember what the teacher gave as directions.

"Around 5 tonight, don't be late." Kevin replied as he turned the sink on.

"Alright. Come on Aleks, I gotta show you my baby." James said.

   Once Aleks nodded, he stood up and walked towards Kevin and said, "Uh, thanks for letting me stay the night. And for the breakfast," The shorter boy smiled up at him. He briefly considered hugging Kevin, but decided against it. Might make things awkward, Aleks thought.

Kevin smiled back hands deep in dirty dishes, "It was a pleasure of course. Now, don't kill him. And for God’s sake, don't go over 50 miles per hour." He said the last part to James as a behest.

"Yes Ma'," James replied jesting as he lead Aleks outside to his car. His car was a black convertible with extravagant tail lights and a very flamboyant border along the side doors. His wheels were chrome and looked like they were cleaned daily. "What do you think?" He asked Aleks with shining eyes. He really loved his car. Luckily for James, both of Aleks’s eyebrows shot up. Aleks was impressed and laughed a bit in admiration. "Damn, man. It's boss as hell! All my mom and I have is a shitty Fairlane."

  Suddenly smitten from the admiration of his creation he giggled, "Yeah, you think? Aw-haha, thanks. You gotta see it on the road though, it's fast."

After both of them were inside the car James asked Aleks where he lived. And once they found out which direction to start to travel in, James hit the gas and they shot out of Kevin's driveway. From inside the house, Kevin watched from a window and thought, "What a daredevil." Before thinking of Aleks and daydreaming about tonight.

***

In the car, Aleks gripped both hands onto the sides of his seat as James shot them out of Kevin's driveway. "You weren't kidding," Aleks muttered over the roar of the motor. James was driving so fast, it made him pretty nervous. James laughed like a maniac then put on the radio and blasted incoherent music out of it. The combination of the wind blowing around them and the music made a cacophony. Finally, after a good 10 minute drive, they got to Aleks's house.

"Do you want me to stay with you till 5 or do you want me to pick you up?" James asked as he parked the car in front of the house.

Unbuckling his seat belt in relief and then turning his head to James, Aleks shrugged. "You can stay if you want to. I don't think my mom would mind too much. She'd probably make you lunch or something. But, uh, we don't really have anything interesting in there yet."

"Free food sounds appealing enough," he joked as he got out of the car also. "So you came from Russia? What's it like over there, is what the fucking politicians say correct?"

"Dunno, I was born in Boston. My mom came to America while she was pregnant, so I guess it was bad enough to make her leave in the first place," Aleks scratched his head as he walked with James to the front door. His house was moderately sized, leaning more towards small. The siding was white with black, with black and red shutters on the windows. In front of it was a small square of lawn, not recently cut, dandelions sprouting up in patches.

When Aleks opened the door and stepped inside, he told James, "You can leave your shoes on or take them off. Doesn't really matter."

Because the circumstances, after taking off his shoes, James walked into the home and noticed how bare it was. "Your home seems neat, haha. Oh, you were right, there’s barely anything here." He looked around in the hall, hands in pockets unsure what to do with himself.  "You know, Kevin and I are really glad to know you. Livens up the last year of high school. Fuck, if you weren't here I'd be stuck with Kevin right now."

"He seems like an alright person to be stuck with," Aleks chuckled, taking off his boots and nudging them into a corner near the door.

Walking down the hall towards the living room, he turned his head back to James. "Yeah, we only moved in about a week ago, so... I hope you won't get too bored," He turned his head forward again as they entered the living room. The walls were white with sections of wood panelling, and it was also pretty empty except for a coffee table, beige sofa and and two armchairs, a china cabinet with a television on top of it, and a few bookshelves stuffed with novels and textbooks. "Hey, mom?" Aleks yelled towards the threshold to the next room, "I'm back! Are you in here?" The Russian hoped that his mother would reply in English. But in response, a woman's voice yelled back, "Shto ty khoshesh, Sasha?"

James had followed Aleks and admired the decor. It kind of reminded him of his own apartment but with the china cabinet replaced with an old drawer. As he sat on the couch he heard Aleks's mother answer back in Russian.

"Is that what Russian sounds like? Fucking sounds complicated." He asked raising an eyebrow.

Soon after her reply, a rather short and curvy 40-something woman stepped into the living room with a book of some sort in her left hand. She had shoulder-length curly hair in the same shade as Aleks' and wore a white blouse with a mauve skirt, but no shoes and only dark red lipstick on her face. Raising an eyebrow at her son and the bearded young man on the couch, she spoke to Aleks in heavily accented English. "You should have said you brought visitor."

Formally, James introduced himself after standing up again, "I'm James, Aleks's friend from school. Are you his mother?" Aleks' mother then nodded at James, red lips quirking into a pleasant smile. The boy looked tough with his beard and wrestler's muscles. She liked that.

"Yes, I'm his mother. I am glad to see Sasha is making friends quickly," Her son winced a bit, embarrassed, as his mother called him 'Sasha' in front of James. "You will be staying for lunch?"

"Uh, Sasha? Oh, Aleksandr, yeah he's a good sport." James said sincerely.

"Good. I told him not to be difficult," She said seriously, then laughed. "I will start lunch. You two have fun, do whatever... you know," And with that, Aleks' mother left the living room and headed into the kitchen.

Afterwards, Aleks scratched the back of his head and looked at James with an awkward chuckle. Smiling, James looked at Aleks and said, "Your mom seems neat. Hey, can I see your room?" He felt very tired there and then. Perhaps Kevin would want to know what his room looked like. He didn’t see a problem in the question, hey, maybe Aleks was queer like them, no hard feeling then, right? His mind imagined what it'd feel like to kiss those puffy looking lips for a second. Probably really soft but sloppy, he thought.

“Oh yeah, sure. It's upstairs," Aleks answered, heading back into the hall which they had entered from.

He beckoned for James to follow him, turning and going up a flight of hardwood stairs. Another trip down a hall took the pair to a door, which Aleks stopped at and opened. The walls of his room were painted a dark navy blue and gold christmas lights were strung around the top of the walls, near the ceiling. The lights were turned off and the room's single window had its blinds up, letting sunlight in. Beneath the window, pushed up against the wall was a low-to-the-ground bed with a black comforter blanket and white pillows. A barren nightstand stood beside the bed. The wall opposite the bed had an empty bookshelf, a turntable, and a cardboard box filled with records. At the far end of the room there was a bass guitar case, an empty guitar stand, a few more cardboard boxes full of things and a large Beatles poster on the wall.

"Wow. You and Kevin really love the Beatles. That's so gay." He said as he looked around the room. "I like the lights." he commented as he walked around hovering his hands around his bookcase and bass before sitting down on his bed. "Can you play it?"

The Russian raised an eyebrow and smirked at the statement. "Yeah. It is pretty gay," Aleks agreed snidely, walking over to the bass and bending over to open its case. The bass' body faded from red on the edges to yellow in the center, with a white pickguard. He was relieved to have it back from the shop finally. "Yeah, I can play it. I can play guitar, too, but I'm better with bass... It's a Rickenbacker," He told James, even though he assumed that he wouldn't care.

As Aleks fondled his bass, James lay down on his bed and looked up at the ceiling giving a ‘hmf’ when Aleks told him it was  Rickenbacker. Truthfully, he didn't like the colors that much. The only guitar he knew about and liked was the Otwin Super Electric.

"Did you learn anything new in Music class yesterday with Kevin?" He asked.

 Aleks shook his head, walking over to his bed and sitting down next to James. "Not really. We just played some flat stuff from sheet music. How was, uh, wrestling practice, or whatever?" He wondered if he'd be sorry that he asked.

"Heh, music class sounds boring." Sighing he then answered Aleks's question with a faraway look in his eye, "It was okay. Though the fucking coach is still as pedophilic as the first day I met him. The boys were nice though, a bit timid at the thought of physical contact."

Unsure of what to say in reply, Aleks decided on, "You don't like your coach, then?"

Turning over on his side so that his body was facing Aleks, James said in a blank voice, "He's a bit aggressive. He forced me into wrestling on my fucking first day of gym because I was "athletic enough." Later I heard he jacked off on my first match against a kid, god dammit."

Aleks raised his eyebrows in surprise. "And he hasn't been fired yet? What the hell."

After laughing at his comment James said quite seriously offhandedly, "I'm pretty sure he has some fucking blackmail against anyone who tried to....On a better topic, can you play a song on your bass?" He hoped to slide out of the topic because he did not want to talk about what the coach had on him as blackmail.

"Oh yeah, sure," Aleks said as he stood up and walked to the other end of the room. Picking up the bass and plugging it into his amp, he turned back around and hung its strap over his shoulder. He took a brief moment to tune it, then looked over to James. "Nothing too impressive on its own, since bass doesn't usually get the lead parts," Aleks then began playing the bassline of I Saw Her Standing There, tapping his feet to the rhythm. He didn't bother to mention the name of the song because he didn't think James would care much about that either.

James slowly fell into a light daydream as Aleks played the song. His eyes closed and he was at the concert where they were supposed to go tonight. He walked over to the bathrooms and heard people smacking their lips together. Looking at the feet in the stalls that had the sound, he knew it was Aleks and Kevin. He soon had a hard on after hearing their moans and breathy incoherent whispers. Feeling horny and a little jealous, he then jacked off in the daydream into a urinal as Kevin and Aleks stood in the stall making out. Aleks's gasps were audible even through the screaming of the crowd. Kevin's greedy lips smacking against Aleks's body followed the pattern of the rhythm of the song. Throwing himself back into consciousness as he came, he opened his eyes as the song ended. "That was nice."

Aleks unplugged the bass from its amp and set it back on its stand, then walked back over to his bedside. "Thanks... you feeling okay?" He asked James, noticing that the boy laying on his bed looked a bit out of it.

James lazily looked into his Aleks’s eyes and nodded. "Just a bit tired from yesterday. Mind me sleeping here till 5?"

"Yeah sure, go ahead. Do you want me to bring up some food when my mom is done cooking?" The younger boy sat down against the wall opposite the bed, next to his record player. James waved his hand in an indifferent matter to the question and flopped on his belly hiding his semi-erection and soon fell asleep. Time went by fast and it was about 5 o'clock when he woke up to a growling stomach. His dreams consisted of barely anything real but he knew it involved wrestling Aleks in some sort of perverted way.

By the time James had waken up, Aleks had taken a shower and changed his clothes. He now wore a different pair of the same drainpipe jeans and a solid red button-up shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His hair was shiny and fluffier than it had been the previous day. Aleks sat on the floor with his unplugged bass, quietly plucking a repeating song. After quieting his body down, James made a few mumbling noises to alert Aleks before getting up and wiping drool off his mouth.

"What time is it?" He asked still a bit groggy as he registered Aleks's wardrobe change and cleaner looking hair.

"Around four-forty, I think," Aleks said as he stood up to put away his bass, "I was gonna wake you up after I finished that song."

Getting up also, a bit disoriented, James said, "Ugh, I think he wanted us to be there sooner than five. Let's go now."

The bassist set his instrument in its case and locked it, wondering for a brief moment if he should bring it along but ultimately deciding against it. Aleks put on his boots and grabbed his coat on his way out the door with James.

***

As they drove at a dangerous speed, slowing down near hot spots where police officers sat, they made it in time for it to be four fifty. Kevin, already giving up on the idea that they'd arrive, had ordered himself a beer. He used his fake ID he usually used for events like this and was almost half done with it when he noticed them. Feeling a bit more relaxed, he greeted them.

"Hey lovers, didn't think you'd actually come, like I fucking asked." He directed the last part to James.

"Woah there. I'm not the one drinking illegally now, am I?" James shot back. "Where's the hunk singer?" He added after Kevin's dirty glare.

After pointing to a blond man on the stage tuning his guitar Kevin said, "He's not anything pretty, but he's voice is nice." The man was wearing a normal black T shirt and jeans. He had pointy shoes on and a tie. His shaggy blond hair was similar in length as their English teacher's, but was straight and pulled in a messy ponytail. He wasn't anything amazing, but he did have an air of experience to him.

James hummed, "I can see the attraction. But not really."

Aleks sat down next to Kevin, glancing over to the man onstage. Physically, he really kind of grossed him out... especially the hair. Aleks wondered if Kevin really did have a thing for him, or if James was just teasing. Maybe Aleks would understand once he started singing, but right now, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy over the possibility of Kevin being attracted to the singer.

"Do you want anything?" Kevin asked Aleks after he sat down next to him. James wandered off to the hotdog stand near by. The other members of the group got on stage and started softly practicing, too. Kevin was wearing a simple purple button down shirt with the top button open revealing skin. His pants were black slacks and his shoes were simple sneakers since he didn't own dress shoes.

“I wouldn't mind a beer, if they're cheap here," Aleks accepted. As Kevin turned to order one from the bartender, he took a moment to admire the taller boy's outfit. Though the shoes looked a bit silly, he decided that they could be ignored pretty easily. Kevin looked fantastic in purple, and the open top button was a very nice touch. Aleks unconsciously licked his lips.

Once the bartender handed Aleks a beer, the band started playing. James arrived back with his sloppy joe and hotdog as they finished their first song. They were okay for a band that didn't seem to synchronize together. The singer seemed too slow but the keys harmonized well either way. The drummer was a bit too fast and seemed to be irritated at something as he hit the drums like a boxer hitting a bag. The bass's solo went well at least. The lyrics themselves did seem to have their own magic to them, but it wasn't as great as the Beatles by a long run.

Averaging about one beer per song, Aleks had drank five of them by the fourth. Feeling a bit daring now that there was alcohol flowing alongside his corpuscles, the Russian nudged Kevin and whispered, "So do you really think the singer is hot?" That question had been bothering him the whole concert so far.

Kevin who had only drunk two and had a tolerance answered with a laugh at the Russian's question, "No way. He's too...sleazy looking. I like my men crisp."

Meanwhile, James had walked up to the stage once he was finished to talk to the drummer who looked moderately cute. He then came back to the table and gave Kevin the keys to his car. "Bring my baby back by tomorrow with no scratches, I have a date." After giving him an encouraging thumbs up, Kevin pocketed the keys. James said goodbye to Aleks and followed the older man to his car.

After bidding James farewell, Aleks quickly turned his attention back to Kevin. "I was kind of hoping you didn't... so what counts as crisp?" He asked with a subtle smirk.

"Oh, along the lines of handsome, bassist, likes the Beatles, and a sense of dress style." Kevin said leaning in closer to the Russian boy and breathing slowly with his pants growing tight.

"Well, you have excellent taste," He said in a deeper posh voice with eyebrows quirked. "I like mine tall, dark, and handsome with guitarists' fingers."

Laughing, Kevin pulled away, stood up and took James's keys out of his pocket, "Let's go Aleks. I know a better place to flirt than a bar."

 


	7. Chapter 7

Fading back into sobriety for a moment as he stood up, Aleks looked at the car keys in Kevin's hand. "How many did you have?"

"Only two, don't worry. It takes three to make me unable to walk straight." Kevin reassured the Russian. Putting a small tip on the bar table, Kevin guided Aleks to James's car with direction. They got in and he made sure they were both buckled up. On their way to Kevin's secret place he teased, "Guess where we're going."

"Uhh, I don't know," Aleks thought for a moment, mind a bit hazy. He shivered inside his coat as the chilly night breeze gusted through the car. "A five-star Italian restaurant? A motel?" He laughed.

"Not exactly. Hopefully you'll like the view though,” answered Kevin smirking.

They drove through some countryside where the stars shined brilliantly and found a station with Beatles music. When they finally met their destination, the car was on a cliff that looked over the whole town where they lived. Little lights flickered on and off and sounds could be heard quite distant from the mountain side.

"Nice place, right?" Kevin said unhooking his seatbelt and leaning over to Aleks's side of the bucket seat.

"Yeah, it is. I think I can see my house from here," The Russian boy smiled and nodded, hiccuping a bit as he unbuckled his own seatbelt.  Aleks squinted into the darkness and searched through the lights of the town. Had he been completely sober, the darkness might have freaked him out. But the combination of the alcohol, Kevin's presence, and John Lennon's voice made him feel safe enough.

"You're okay with this, right?" Kevin asked suddenly before putting his hand on Aleks's arm. His voice was laced with worry and uncertainty. "I don't want to do anything that will make you uncomfortable."

Aleks nodded, then paused and looked at Kevin for a long moment. Damn, he thought, this boy really is fine. The Russian's lips twisted into a grin. "You can put your hands other places, too."

As soon as he registered what Aleks said, Kevin inhaled, moved his hand to Aleks's head, and kissed his lips. His other hand moved towards the Russian's thigh and stayed there unsure what to do as John Lennon sang Ask Me Why on the radio. When Kevin leaned over and kissed him, Aleks slid a hand up the other boy's side and onto the back of his neck, encouraging him to move closer. Aleks himself scooted over in his seat so that they two would be able to touch more easily. After a few quick, chaste kisses, Aleks brought up the courage to let a bit of his tongue slide against Kevin's lower lip.

Kevin moaned and encouraged Aleks to be more assertive with his kisses. Kissing back with equal amount of tongue, he moved in closer and felt up Aleks's body through his dress shirt by crumpling it up and then smoothing it down. Finally feeling brave enough, his hand slid down his stomach to his pants causing butterflies in his own stomach. His breathing became ragged and his face flushed. Opening his eyes, he looked into Aleks's to see if he was resisting.

Aleks' eyes fluttered shut for a moment as their mouths lost contact and Kevin's hand trailed down to his pants. His cheeks and ears burned. Exhaling shakily through parted lips, he opened his eyes again and pulled Kevin closer by the collar of his shirt. His other hand glided down Kevin's neck and torso until it rested on his bulge, and his fingers fiddled absentmindedly with the belt buckle as their lips met again.

"Go on." Kevin urged breathlessly. Giving him one more kiss, he undid Aleks's belt and unzipped his pants. He then massaged his bulge with his palm and used his other hand, which he withdrew from the back of Aleks's head, to squeeze his balls. Nuzzling down to Aleks's neck, the Asian boy gave him a hickey and sucked on the welting injury leaving a cold wet spot.

"Oh fuck! Kevin..." Aleks gasped as he felt Kevin's squeeze his balls and nip at his neck, practically melting as he started to suck on the sensitive skin. He fumbled with the button of Kevin's pants and unzipped them, slowly running his fingers up and down his length and following the other boy's example by squeezing a bit. Kevin suddenly gasped and held his breath in Aleks's ear. He took his dick fully out of his boxers and admired the length fully for the first time. Of course James's was bigger, but it looked handsome just like Aleks himself. He cupped his hand around the shaft and gave the boy a few long slow and strong strokes, alternating to rubbing the head with his palm and smearing pre-come everywhere. When he felt Aleks would be ready, he rubbed at a faster speed and kissed Aleks with so much force that their teeth clacked together.

Meanwhile, Aleks moaned against Kevin's lips and parted his them in encouragement to use a bit more tongue. He brought one hand up to Kevin's cheek and rested it there, closing his eyes. Blindly pulling Kevin's dick out from his underwear as well, he teased the shaft with his fingertips and rubbed the head with his thumb. Realizing from touch that Kevin must be quite long, Aleks opened one eye and looked down. It was dark and half blocked by Kevin's arm, but he could still make out the outline in the moonlight. He grinned against Kevin's lips and gave him a rather rough stroke.

Abruptly gasping again, Kevin drooled a bit while kissing the boy. His eyes closed as Aleks's rough bassist hands had sex with his shaft. He came quickly from pent up need, his ejaculate made quite a mess. "I'm sorry." He muttered in pure embarrassment covering the hand he wasn't stroking Aleks with to his face.

'Mmm just glad you liked it that much," The boy chuckled breathlessly, then hissed as Kevin's hand ran over a particularly sweet spot. "Kiss my neck again," Aleks moaned.

Obeying his request, Kevin dipped down and nuzzled in between Aleks's jaw and his collarbone, found a sweet spot, and bit down on it slowly. He then lavished him with kisses afterwards as if to say pain, pain go away.  Gripping a bit tighter, but not tight enough to hurt, Kevin moved his hands as if to pump him dry.

"Oh fuck, fuck, Kevin—" Aleks cried out, shuddering in pleasure as the other boy bit and nuzzled at the curve of his neck. He whimpered a bit, feeling the hot tickle of Kevin's breath on his ear. "Kevin—" the Russian repeated, breath hitching in his throat, face and body tensing up as another tug of the guitarist's hand drove him over the edge. His abdominal muscles heaved and twitched and he came onto Kevin's palm just as Please Please Me began to play on the radio.

Last night I said these words to my girl…

I know you never even try, girl…

Aleks' body relaxed, and he exhaled shakily. "Jesus..." Just that one word portrayed an obvious amount of embarrassment in his voice.

Softly laughing into the other's ear, Kevin said, "I know, it's overwhelming."

After kissing his ear, he opened the glove compartment and found a few tissues. After cleaning their come up and zipping their pants up, it seemed like it didn't even happen besides the warm satisfaction that spread throughout Kevin's abdomen. After a few more kisses and love bites, they finally figured it was time to go home. Kevin drove Aleks back to his house slowly not wanting to let him go inside his house. What if he thought what they just did was disgusting? Even though it was obvious Aleks was attracted to him, he felt unsure and possessive.

Meanwhile, Aleks slumped down in his seat, hands in his coat pockets and eyes closed. He was tired now, but the cold breeze kept him awake and he sat thinking in drowsy silence. Would he regret his decisions in the morning? The boy didn't right now, though he was slightly embarrassed, but even in this drunken state he realized that the drink had had a pretty big influence on his actions.

Once they parked into Aleks's home's driveway, Kevin looked at the boy with a sense of dread because he was quiet throughout the ride. He put his hand on the other boy's. Questions and statements ran through his mind, but he really didn't have any words. "Hey." he said eventually hoping the other could read his own doubts.

Having just about drifted off, Aleks slowly opened his eyes and groaned as he shifted up in his seat. "Oh. We're here, huh?" He asked rhetorically. Leaving his hand beneath the other boy's and turning to him, Aleks looked Kevin over for a long moment. "Yeah..."

Sighing, Kevin tried memorizing each of the two eyes of Aleks and their individual speckles and rings in them. He forced himself to look at Aleks and remember his smile, the curve of his lips, the feeling of his nose bridge and Aleks's being pushed together and the way his hair parted. He was afraid that this would be the only and last time they'd trust each other to be as intimate as they were. "I had a great night with you." He said eventually with a smile thinking it'd be better to let the other off with a clean conscious if he chose to regret this night.

"Yeah, me too," Aleks smiled back at him, then his smile dropped. "Hey, listen..." Kevin looked at the Russian and encouraged him to continue with small circles of his thumb to Aleks's hand. "Just, don't worry about this. I've had worse things happen to me on, uh... first dates," Aleks laughed a bit. "That's what this was, right?"

"Ah, yeah, it was a date." Kevin replied in a whisper. He was slightly curious as to what other dates Aleks had been on. Was he his boyfriend? The thought of being his boyfriend made him dizzy. "Let's get you inside safely, okay?"

Aleks squeezed Kevin's hand before unbuckling himself and stepping out of the car. He was a bit unsteady on his feet after sitting down for so long. As he started to walk towards the door with Kevin, he stopped and looked at him. "Uh. Do I have anything on my neck?"

"Yeah, you do. Might need a goddamn short sleeved turtle neck tomorrow." He joked. Truthfully, Kevin couldn't really tell from the moonlight, but it looked like he had around 3 hickeys on his neck in varying places.

"I fucking hate turtlenecks," Aleks grinned. "Maybe it'll be cold enough for a scarf tomorrow. I hope so."

"I don't think so. I think the forecast is around the eighties this week." He announced trying not to laugh at the terrible situation. "Here, you can bite me too." he suggested showing Aleks the side of his neck and holding in his giggles. Waggling his eyebrows, the Russian took a step closer to Kevin and stood on his tiptoes to make his mouth level with the taller boy's neck.

"You're too goddamn tall," Aleks muttered, grazing his teeth over the skin on Kevin's jaw. Deciding on a spot more towards his throat, Aleks slowly bit down and sucked on the bite mark.

Holding onto the other’s shoulders, Kevin hissed in pain and pleasure before realizing his hands were tightly gripping Aleks’s shoulders. Unlatching his hands he said a small apology before kissing the boy on his cheek with a smile. "Goodnight Aleksandr, my love."

"Night, Kevin," Aleks returned the kiss on the cheek and fell back onto his heels from his toes. With a final smile he turned away from his date and headed into his house, praying that his mother wouldn't be awake to interrogate him.

Once, Kevin went back into his car, he sat in the driveway for a moment taking a deep breath. It was overwhelming. All of it, the kiss, the smell of their sex in the car. He needed to rub the seats down with cleaner later.

Finally starting the car, he went home and lay in bed unable to fall asleep for Aleks's rough tugs haunted him like a ghost. He touched his hickey’s tenderly and thought he was the luckiest man on the planet. Meanwhile, Aleks stumbled into his bedroom, feeling exhausted upon entering the house. The air felt heavier than it had outside and he just barely managed to shuck off his pants and boots before flopping into his bed and wrapping himself in a cocoon of blankets. The Christmas lights were left off. He fell into a deep sleep, thinking  their matching love bites. Sensitively, he touched them and wondered if Kevin was thinking of him too. They both fell asleep and dreamt of each other. It was not a happily ever after, since life doesn’t work like that, but they found a common ground in the war around them.

<3 The End 


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